Curtain-fixture.



PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904.

E. E. WHITMORE.

CURTAIN FIXTURE.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 2. 1903.

NO MODEL any desired position UNITE STATES Patented December 20, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. WHITMORE, OF

PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURTAIN SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW

JERSEY, A COR- CURTAIN-FIXTURE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 777,762, dated December 20, 1904. Application filed November 2, 1903. Serial No. 179,530.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD E. WHIT- MORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of ourtain-fixtures wherein holding shoes or heads are spring-pressed against the sides of the window-frame to hold the curtain or shade at against the pull of the shade-roller spring.

The object of the invention is to provide a fixture of this general class of such construction that its principal parts may be made up and carried in stock and the complete fixture adjusted to any Width of Window in connecting or assembling said parts.

Curtain-fixtures have heretofore been made in which the head or holding part is detachably connected with a spring-pressed operating-rod; but, so far as I am aware, no one has heretofore provided a curtain fixture wherein the holding mechanism, consisting of the head, the sliding rod, and the spring, are assembled independently of the main body of the tubular shade-stick and adapted to be connected thereto adjustably and in a simple manner.

The invention consists, generally stated, in a sectional shade-stick comprising terminal portions each consisting of ahead or holding device, an operating-spring, and a shell or body wherein the same are mounted, in combination with an intermediate shade-stick section, to which the terminal portions are detachably connected.

The invention further consists in a curtainfixture comprising a sectional shade stick consisting of a main section adapted to be carried by the lower margin of theshade or curtain and end sections adjustably connected therewith, each of the end sections contain inga head or holding device and its operatingspring.

The invention other features of further consists in certain construction and combinations of parts, all as hereinaftermore particularly described, and pointed out in the claim.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a curtain-fixture embodying my invention, a secondary position of the frictionhead,and the means for connecting the terminal sections to the intermediate section being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 is a modification showing the device adapted for use in connection with pendants or pinch-handles. Fig. 4 shows the parts disassembled.

Describing first the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 4 of the drawings, 5 represents a head or holding member provided with the friction-shoes 6 and the antifriction-rollers 7, all of which are of well-known construction. Each of the heads is mounted on a sliding rod 8 and may be surrounded by a tubular sleeve 9, entering the bore of the larger elongated sleeve 10, which forms a complementary part of the shade-stick and has an externally threaded terminal portion 11, which is longitudinally apertured for the passage of the end of the sliding rod, this latter being provided at its ends with stops 12. A coiled spring 13 surrounds the sliding rod and abuts the tube-section 9 and the shoulder of the terminal portion 11. It is obvious that each of these terminal portions is complete in itself and that the several parts may be assembled and kept in stock. Heretofore these curtain devices have been made up generally upon special orders for the reason that they must be made to accurately fit the windowframes. Furthermore, the several parts of the fixture have heretofore been separately constructed and assembled or applied to the curtain after the latter is made ready for the window and usually upon the car itself. This was necessary because of the delicate adjustments which are required to adapt the fixture to hold the shade against the pull of the shade-roller spring and yet not have it so tight as to bind or interfere with the proper operation of the curtain in adjustment. With my construction the principal parts of the fixture may be assembled and properly adjusted as to the tension of the spring and the extent of projection of the heads, and then the terminal portions are connected with the central tube-section 14:, which is cut to the proper length with suitable provision made for securing or varying its adjustment when it is to be fitted to the frame of the car-window. This provision is present in the threaded connection between the tube-sections, (particularly shown in Fig. 2,) and if the various parts be constructed even approximately correct the necessary adjustment can be made at any time even by unskilled workmen.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 there is no provision made for withdrawing the holding-shoes in the adjustment of the curtain, and it is intended that the latter should simply be pulled down or pushed up. This is a practical construction and one that has been used very largely; but my invention is adapted to be used in connection with pendants or pinch-handles.

In the modified construction shown in Fig. 3 the sliding rod 8 is extended beyond the stops 12 and provided with a threaded socket to receive the threaded end of a rod 15, connected with the usual pendant 16, operating through the slot in the escutcheon or coverplate 17 and the slot in the central tube-section 14. In this construction the central tube-section and the rod-sections and pendants may be cut to proper lengths and the terminal sections, fully assembled, engaged with both at the same operation.

Obviously the central section 14 may be of different form than that shown when the pendants are not employed, and the manner of connecting the sections of the fixture, as

well as the particular construction of the EDWARD E. WHITMORE.

WVitnesses:

W. R. LITZENBERG, FREDERICK O. GrooDwm. 

